Tall, Dark, and Vampire

What was I saying? Oh, yes. Making you suffer, Olivia. Oh, I came up with many wonderful ways, but I ultimately decided that killing you would be too easy. So, why not bide my time and hit you where it really hurts? Wipe out this little family you’ve made for yourself.” He kicked Damien’s chair with his foot. “Even this human. Kill them one by one in front of you.”

“Stop it,” Olivia screamed. “Don’t touch him!”

“Well, he’s almost dead anyway.” He lifted one shoulder. “I was going to kill this one too after I followed her home the other night,” he said, squeezing Suzie closer to him. “But I decided to turn her instead and have some fun with her. I always liked blonds, and this one is a virgin. Bonus.”

Suzie whimpered and tried to pull away as he kissed her head, but he was too strong.

“When I saw your little bartender leaving the club with that human buffoon, I realized that I found the perfect opportunity to get the ball rolling. I would’ve had a slaughter fest, and we did get off to a nice start, but you had to make a big fat mess with my rogues in the tunnels.”

“No.” Olivia shook her foggy head. “An unregistered vampire killed Ronald Davis. It was Rogue One, not you.”

“Please.” He sighed. “The Presidium’s computers aren’t hacker-proof. I glamoured a Google geek, and he changed my ID in the system so when they ran the blood sample it came up as an unregistered rogue. Then I ate him. Dinner and a show. Really, Olivia,” he said wearily. “It is the twenty-first century. Get with the program.”

“I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure,” Doug interrupted.

“No.” Brutus winked. “But I met your partner, and he tasted great. Did you know that the sweetest bit of blood is that last pump of the heart as the life fades from the body?”

Before Olivia could stop him, Doug screamed and squeezed off two rounds, but Brutus, who was two thousand years old, shot up to the arched ceiling in a blink. Frantic, they pointed their guns in the air, but Brutus was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Suzie.

A gust of wind whooshed behind them, and Olivia felt something slash her across the throat. She tried to get out of the way, but she wasn’t fast enough. She covered her neck with one hand and could feel the blood seeping through her fingers as she stumbled, struggling to regain her footing and still hold her weapon out in front of her. Doug linked his arm around her waist and held her against him while keeping an eye on their surroundings.

Doug glanced to the front door and started backing up toward the entrance with Olivia tucked in his arm. We have to get him by the entrance to the club. His grip tightened on her.

What are you going to do? Her weakened voice whispered into his mind, and she fought the panic that welled up inside. She felt like she was dying and deep down she knew that she was. Telepathy was all she could manage.

Trust me and hope that Suzie gets away from the door.

“Now you’re hiding?” Doug taunted him and shouted into the pulsing lights. All of his experience as a cop taught him that guys like Brutus were impotent losers, and if you egged them on a bit, they’d come running. “All this time, you wait for revenge, and now you’re hiding like a little bitch in the shadows. What a pussy.”

Snarling, Brutus appeared ten feet in front of them. When his boot-clad feet thundered onto the floor, with Suzie still in his grip and bleeding from the neck, he grinned, his fangs dripping with blood as he stalked toward them.

“Hiding behind a girl?” Doug glanced at Suzie and then to Brutus. “What a pantywaist. Some two-thousand- year-old vampire you are. I was hoping for a fight, but it looks like you’re too much of a chickenshit to take me on.”

“Please,” he sneered. “I could dust you in under a minute.”

“Oh yeah, Brucilla? Looks to me like you only take on little girls. Hey Liv, wasn’t that one you told me about only twelve? Nice. You’re a coward and a pervert.”

Doug let Olivia go, and as she slipped from his grasp to the floor, she prayed his gamble would pay off. Brutus was far older and stronger, and by all accounts, Doug shouldn’t stand a chance, but then again, nothing about Doug was standard issue.

“Where’s your dress?” Doug mocked him as he backed up to the large wooden doors. “Your daddy’s dress is real nice. Maybe you could borrow his.”

Brutus screamed in rage and tossed Suzie, who went flying across the room. Her petite frame slammed into the bar, and she landed in a motionless heap. Olivia watched through fading vision as Brutus flew at Doug with remarkable speed and force. He grabbed him by the throat, but just before Brutus leaped, Doug propelled himself backward with all of his strength, and the two men burst through the wooden doors like a couple of torpedoes.

Olivia instinctively rolled away from the rays of sunlight as an ear-shattering explosion rocked the air. As they landed on the sidewalk in the dawn of early morning, a high-pitched shriek of agony and defeat pierced the air as Brutus burned and exploded in a noxious cloud of black smoke and ash.

At least, Olivia prayed it was Brutus… and only Brutus.

The pulsing lights of the club mixed with smoke and the golden rays of sunshine, which fleetingly reminded Olivia of a dreamscape she once shared with Doug.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she waited and prayed for Doug to emerge from the light, and like an answered prayer, the hulking shadow of Doug Paxton stepped into the club amid the smoky glow.

He picked her up and cradled her to his chest as he strode with her into the warm beams of sun that streamed into the club.

“You looked like you could use a little sun,” he whispered as he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

For the first time in three centuries, the prolonged exposure to the rays of the sun didn’t burn. She smiled as it bathed them, and tears fell as she reveled in the miracle of their love. In the miracle of him.

“Secure the building.”

A familiar, deep baritone that Olivia hadn’t heard in over a century filled the room as the music shut off and the lights ceased flashing. Doug’s muscles bunched as he prepared to fly into the daylight. Doug, wait.

A minute later, the house lights came on, and twenty special-ops sentries charged into the club with guns drawn. Olivia watched with relief as some of them tended to her coven, Damien, and even Van Helsing.

Covered from head to toe in protective sun gear, a soldier zipped behind them like a ghost. In a matter of seconds, he hung a blackout curtain across the broken doorway and stood guard to handle curious humans who may want to investigate.

“Well, since you probably could’ve killed us by now, and it looks like your boys here are helping our friends instead of staking them into oblivion, I think it’s a safe bet you’re an ally.” Doug’s fingers pressed into her as he held her tightly. She knew he was scared for her, but to his credit, he didn’t let it show. “However, the woman I love is dying, and I don’t have time for pleasantries or vampire bureaucratic bullshit,” Doug stated bluntly. “So let’s have it. Who the hell are you? And why couldn’t you and your recon squad have shown up five minutes ago?”

“I am Emperor Zhao,” he said with a regal bow. He walked over to them calmly, bared his fangs, and made an incision in his pinky finger. He held his hand in front of Doug and tipped his head. “If you would allow me? It will heal her swiftly.”

Doug glanced at her, looking for reassurance, but all she could manage was a weak smile. Olivia had heard tales of the emperor’s charity and kindness, but some thought it as much of a legend as the bloodmate stories. He gave the emperor a curt nod and watched as he held his finger over Olivia’s mouth.

The rich, decadent scent of his ancient blood filled her nostrils, and she opened her mouth like a baby bird. As soon as the first, fertile drop landed on her tongue, his age-old power surged through her body like an electrical current. Icy-hot sensations flickered through her system as he healed her. Within seconds, the deep wounds on her throat closed, and she was rejuvenated.

“Thank God,” Doug whispered as he rained kisses over her face and hugged her.

“Actually, it’s Zhao,” the emperor quipped.

“Thank you, Emperor Zhao.” Olivia placed her hand on Doug’s shoulder as he put her down, and she once again stood on her own two feet. She bowed her head in gratitude but remained in Doug’s comforting embrace.